Electronic systems, such as networking systems and data storage systems, typically include a chassis, a backplane, secondary or daughter cards and a variety of peripherals such as disc drives, auxiliary backplanes, displays and the like. The backplane, also known as a processor board, mother board, system board or main board, depending upon its function and configuration, is a relatively thin, flat sheet structure including one or more connectors for connection to daughter cards and peripherals, either directly or via cables. In addition, many backplanes support a variety of passive and active components. Examples of active components include one or more processors or central processing units or chips to direct signals. Some processors further include power conditioning modules with heat sinks.
The localized weight of the daughter cards and processors subject the backplane to bending and flexing stresses during assembly of the electronic equipment. The plugging and unplugging of secondary cards and peripherals to the backplane further subjects the backplane to bending and flexing stresses due to connector mate and un-mate forces.
A variety of structures are known for stiffening the backplane to enable the backplane to withstand such stresses and bending forces. Such stiffeners typically include one or more stiffening members which are directly fastened to the backplane through a large number of mounting holes within the backplane. Examples of such stiffeners are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,260,265; 6,084,182; and 6,512,676.